New Jersey near the end of the line for federal school aid

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerWoodbrook Elementary School 1st grade teachers Sara Stalowski (left) and Veronna Karnish preparing a classroom for the start of the school year earlier this month.

When money is being doled out, the place to be is at the front of the line, with your palm outstretched.

That’s where governors like Arnold Schwarzenegger were, when Congress passed a bill on Aug. 10 to give federal aid to school districts so they can restore teachers’ jobs lost in budget cuts. His state of California submitted its application for the funding on Aug. 13, along with Illinois. Two days later, so did Kansas, Nevada and South Dakota.

But like a procrastinating college student, Gov. Chris Christie didn’t complete the three-page application until late Sept. 8, the night before the deadline. Now, as other states already have their cash in hand, New Jersey just won approval to get its $268 million.

With the school year underway, individual districts still don’t know how much money they will have to work with. Hiring decisions take time, and schools may have to adjust course offerings and class sizes mid-year. It’s a mess.

Still, at least we will be able to restore some money to schools. The question now is how to fairly distribute it. Christie hasn’t pinned that down yet.

The governor took the right approach when he imposed his $820 million in education cuts in a way that required all districts to do some belt-tightening. Instead of imposing the cuts across the board, which would have disproportionately hurt poor districts that rely more on state aid, he varied the cuts so that each district would wind up reducing its total budget by about 5 percent.

Christie should keep that principal of equity in mind when he divvies up this federal aid, so neither the urban nor suburban districts are favored. All should get to bring teachers back.